News, entertainment channels go off air in Kashmir

Srinagar, May 10 (UNI) The cable operators in Kashmir stopped beaming all news and entertainment channels this evening following militant threats despite the state government's assurance of complete protection.

The cable operators stopped airing news and entertainment channels from 1800 hrs this evening.

''Many cable operators in the Kashmir valley received threats on telephone to stop beaming of news and entertainment channels. We have done so from this evening,'' a cable operator told UNI here.

However, he did not elaborate.

An official spokesman, in a statement here yesterday, said ''it had come to the notice of the state government that the militants have threatened the cable operators here and asked them not to show newsand other channels.'' ''The state government has taken a serious note of this and has assured full protection to the cable operators for their normal activities,'' he added.

The spokesman said the police officers concerned have been directed to provide adequate security to all those cable operators who feel threatened of such militant action.

Earlier on Sunday, an obscure militant outfit, Al Madina Regiment, warned cable operators in Kashmir to close down their operations within ten days.

A spokesman of the outfit, Abdullah Malik, in a statement to a local news agency, said the group has taken strong strong note of the growing immodesty in the Kashmiri society.

He alleged that the cable operators were airing obscene programmes and asked them to close down their operations in ten days time.

Earlier in the day, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of Faith) Chief Asiya Andrabi, in a news copnference, blamed the ''government agencies'' and those involved in the sex racket for threatening the cable operators and beauty parlours in the Kashmir valley.

''No militant outfit has issued any threats to the cable operators or the beauty parlours. They should not lend ears to such threats. It is an attempt to divert the attention of the people from this vital issue,'' she added.

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